When a team of gardeners planted three dozen kinds of root vegetables for their annual project, they never anticipated getting so much meat from their beet.

This year the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County grew a dozen beet varieties, in addition to rutabagas, carrots, Daikon, salsify and scorzonera, among 35 root vegetables, at the UC Cooperative Extension at McClellan Ranch in Cupertino.

The team was awed by a 17-pound 'Chiogga 239' beet that was harvested at 11 inches in diameter and 8 1/2 inches long. It had to be sliced with a saw. Earlier in the season, just a few weeks past its 55-day point of maturity, another 'Chiogga 239' weighed 6 1/2 pounds. While overgrown vegetables are not desirable for eating, team leader Magie Klugherz of the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County cubed and baked the gigantic beet and found it was edible. For days, Klugherz and colleagues distributed sandwich baggies filled with diced beets to neighbors and friends.

The leafy green tops of the hefty beets, which some people enjoy eating, were nearly the thickness of celery stems.

In addition, a dark red 'Action F1' hybrid rutabaga grew to 3 pounds, 10 ounces, and a white 'Blankoma' and a burgundy 'Cylindra' rutabaga came in at 3 pounds each. Since the beets and rutabagas grew with a lot of the root above the ground, the gardeners conclude that seeds should be planted in a trench so that the upper part of the root can stay covered with dirt.

"We need to do some research on whether a trench is the way to go," Klugherz said. "Some of the beet parts that were above the ground had been chewed on by some unknown critter -- rats are prime suspects. The tip embedded in the ground had not been bitten into."

Turnips and radishes suffered attacks from root maggots that likely came from the cabbage moth, gardeners said. They later learned that row covers kept over the plants deter the moth from laying eggs. And, naturally, some roots were devoured by gophers.

Garden preparation: Fava beans were sown in November as a cover crop for the root vegetables. After several weeding sessions, in the middle of March the fava plants were chopped and covered with goat manure and mulch.

Planting: Parsnip, salsify, rutabaga and scorzonera -- the vegetables with the most days to maturity (80 to 120 days) -- were planted in mid-April. Rutabagas are customarily sown in mid-June to early July for a fall crop and taste better after a couple of frosts, Klugherz said. Row covers were placed over the beds to protect new shoots from birds. Beets, radishes, turnips, carrots and Daikon were planted at the end of April. By the middle of May, most of the seeds had sprouted and the team devoted its efforts to thinning seedlings, watering and watching for gophers. According to the UC Cooperative Extension's cool and warm season vegetable guide, beets can be planted from seed from February through August. Klugherz said some seed catalogs recommend planting seeds every two weeks to extend the period of availability of beets for cooking.

Harvest: Daikon radishes, with several inches of root above ground and as much below, were dug up with a shovel because the 2-inch diameter roots were fragile and tended to break, leaving part of the root in the ground. The carrots -- 'Danver' half-long, 'Lunar' white and 'Yellowstone' -- were easy to pull out. If left too long in the ground, rutabagas -- also known as swedes -- can get so big and fibrous that they become inedible.

Beets grown in pots: Klugherz planted three kinds of beets in containers on May 26. She poured Supersoil into two 5-gallon pots (with 'Action' and 'Blankoma' varieties) and into one 3-gallon pot (with 'Chiogga' type). She planted five seeds 1/2-inch deep in each pot, with one seed in the middle and four seeds about an inch from the edge of the pot. While beets normally mature in 50 to 60 days, the beets in Klugherz's pots took longer because they were in full sun for only half a day in the atrium of her house. The leaves of plants would wilt in the afternoon sun but perk up in evening shade. The beets in pots were watered daily when temperatures soared, but when it wasn't so hot, the plants were watered every other day. Klugherz applied all-purpose fertilizer at half strength to the water once a week.

Learning more

For information on past master gardener projects at McClellan Ranch, visit www.mastergardeners.org and click on the Santa Clara County link.